


Soul Searching

by RubySmiley



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Angst, Self-Reflection, Soul-Searching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:30:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4445399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubySmiley/pseuds/RubySmiley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the darkness of the caves, he is a nobody. There are only stones, and the shadows of time passing eternity by. [Steven Stone centric.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soul Searching

Steven pens the letter in the dead of night, when only his thoughts are alive (and nothing else). The words that tumble form unforgiving ink mark themselves on the page, ugly insects melting into the shape of his thoughts, and briefly, he hesitates. A black blotch remains where the tip has lingered on the paper for too long.

 

He lifts his head for a moment, to look outside his window and at the stillness of dark. How lovely the Litleonoids must have been, he thought to himself; like Fire Stones raining down from the sky.

 

Hoenn's new champion shows up at his house the next morning, only to find the door unlocked, a quivering parchment on his table and a Pokéball sitting at his desk.

 

"I do not expect to return to my home anytime soon," is what he wrote.

 

"Don't look for me," is what he says.

 

* * *

 

 

 

For the first few days of his disappearance, his PokéNav buzzes periodically. 

 

His hand moves on reflex for the device, a Champion smile making its way across his face as he answers.

 

"Hello? This is Steven Stone speaking.

…Yes, I am away training for some time.

Forgive my absence."

 

With each word, he ventures farther into the cave, until their voices have all melded together and he can no longer distinguish each one.

 

* * *

 

As he is digging, he notices one particular stone, glowing like a dream in the midst of nothing. With careful hands, he frees it, turns it around in his weathered palms, lost in the way its colors flicker like falling stars.

 

Later, he allows it to witness the brightest of days—and isn't at all surprised when the colors recede into the dullest of monochrome greys.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Somehow, he has begun to rely on the regular ringing as somewhat of a clock. For in the darkness of the caves, he is a nobody; there are only stones, and the shadows of time passing eternity by.

 

But the buzzing of his PokéNav—the brief conversations that inevitably follow—are only a reminder of the things that he is (the things that he is supposed to be) and so this time, he allows it to ring for a little while longer.

 

* * *

 

"Come home," they tell him in a dream. 

 

He awakens to unfulfilled promises, covers his face with one hand, and asks the cave, "Where is that?"

 

It doesn't reply.

 

* * *

 

His PokéNav has been ringing particularly frequently that day. Don't people understand what he isn't? Without checking the caller's ID, he switches it off. Closes his eyes, and revels in the silence.

 

* * *

 

He stops by a small island town one day. There are nice stones to be found there, so he's heard. What he finds instead is a little boy, eight years of age with the future in his eyes, asking the "cool new visitor with a giant metal bird" how to catch a Pokémon. Before he knows it, he is trekking through the tall grass, boy in tow and a Pokéball in hand.

 

"Like this," he says, and throws.

 

Later that day, when they return to town and the sun has already slept beyond the sea, the boy turns his Fire Stone eyes towards him and asks:

 

"Who are you?"

 

His own eyes widen a fraction, and for a moment, he doesn't know how to reply.

 

"No one you need to know," he manages, calling forth his Skarmory and ascending into the darkening sky. Only when he has flown (fled) a distance equal to his regret does he realize he has not a single stone in hand.

 

Still, he does not go back.

 

* * *

 

Steven wonders if he's lost himself, somewhere along the way. They call it soul searching—but had he truly been looking?

 

He enters Meteor Falls, tilts his head back to breathe in the familiar scent of water and earth, and sends out his Metagross.

 

The burst of color and brilliant light when it transforms sparks something from him, from deep within— and it is then that he remembers:

 

_Ah, yes. Such a beautiful thing has been here all along._

 

* * *

 

 

 

From his pocket, Steven Stone produces the shining rock and holds it up towards the midnight sky. The reds, the blues, the greens all shimmer so wonderfully within his grasp. 

 

He grips it harder, and throws.

 

The stone is still glowing as it sinks to the depths of Sootopolis's basin.

 

"Wallace, my friend…" he says without turning around. Behind him, the city's teal-haired guardian remains quiet in knowing silence.

 

"…Let's battle."

 

Today, Steven doesn't have to wonder whether his broad smile is worthy of champions.

 

* * *

 

He switches on his PokéNav as he continues to walk forward, scrolling through missed calls and abandoned messages, through years of his life buried away. When he exits the cave, unearths himself from oblivion, he is met with a familiar face.

 

"Are you ready?" Hoenn's champion asks, perched atop a shining Metagross.

 

"Yeah," Steven says with a smile. "Let's go home."

 

* * *

 

 

_The beauty of existence is something he has yet to compare to a stone. And he finds that maybe, just maybe, he is happier this way._

**Author's Note:**

> As much as I'll miss him when he's gone, I cannot deny that he is well deserving of a break. I can talk for a LONG time about Steven Stone. Granted, not many in-game Pokémon characters are very fleshed out (there are lots of them to keep track of!), and neither is he to a degree, but that's okay~


End file.
